| | | | |  | | By Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels and Ryan Lizza | | Presented by |  | | | With help from Eli Okun, Garrett Ross and Bethany Irvine
|  | DRIVING THE DAY | | HOT FRESH POLLS — WaPo/ABC/Ipsos: KAMALA HARRIS 49%, DONALD TRUMP 45% — Harris 47%, Trump 44%, ROBERT F. KENNEDY JR. 5% … CBS News: Harris 51%, Trump 48% — Harris 49%, Trump 47%, Kennedy 2% (all are RVs) CHI-TOWN BOUND — Good Sunday morning, and like many of you, we’re packing our bags, Googling what the hell Malört is and getting ready to descend on Chicago for this week’s Democratic National Convention. Be sure to stick with Playbook throughout the week for the latest from the CNN-POLITICO Grill and all the other happenings around the United Center, McCormick Place and the rest of the Windy City. We’ll start by flagging a few pre-convention reads for you … — Our Chicago-based colleague Shia Kapos dives in on why the substitution atop the Democratic ticket isn’t going to tamp down the protests much. One pro-Palestinian organizer who has dubbed Harris “Killer Kamala” told her things are “full steam ahead,” with tens of thousands expected to march tomorrow just blocks from the United Center. — NYT’s Jonathan Weisman profiles Illinois Gov. JB PRITZKER, who took the lead in securing the convention for Chicago and is now “ready to party.” (According to the lede, you can thank/blame POLITICO for the pick.) — Three DNC planning vets — KENNETH BAER, JEFF NUSSBAUM and ERIK SMITH — have a fun POLITICO Magazine read on the controlled chaos that is planning a convention. Pour one out in particular for the speechwriters who “are dealing with … the senator who swears she can deliver an 1,800-word address in three minutes (not even an auctioneer can do that).” — And DNC organizers this morning released a rundown of the daily convention themes and confirmed the general speaker lineup we’ve known about for a while. Separately, we have an answer to our biggest remaining scheduling question: What’s the deal with MICHELLE OBAMA? The Chicago Sun-Times’ Lynn Sweet scoops that she’ll speak Tuesday, ahead of her husband.
|  Donald Trump is assailing VP Kamala Harris for her new economic policy agenda. | Joe Raedle/Getty Images | TRUMP VS. ‘COMRADE KAMALA’ — Before we spend the next several days focused on Democrats, let’s check in with Trump, who yesterday alighted on a new nickname for his opponent and a message that Republicans are hoping will finally stick. At a rally yesterday in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, Trump assailed Harris for her new economic policy agenda — including initiatives targeting corporate “price gouging” — which the former president translated into having gone “full communist.” “After causing catastrophic inflation, Comrade Kamala announced that she wants to institute socialist price control,” he said. “Never worked before. Never ever worked. This is the [NICOLÁS] MADURO plan, Venezuela, Maduro plan.” This morning, he drove home the point with a Trumpian twist: He linked to a fabricated picture of Harris looking out over a fictional Chicago convention hall seeped in red, with the crowd underneath a hammer-and-sickle banner. The rally was otherwise quintessential Trump, with plenty of off-script tangents. He attacked Harris’ “crazy” laugh and insisted “I’m much better looking than her.” He falsely claimed two gold-medalist Olympic boxers were men who had transitioned into women. He suggested without evidence that President JOE BIDEN “hates” Harris and that she bypassed Pennsylvania Gov. JOSH SHAPIRO as her running mate because he’s Jewish. But amid all the mudslinging, Trump finally seemed to hone the economic arguments that Republicans have been begging him for. Beyond labeling Harris a socialist, he dismissed her economic policy rollout as pandering, asking, “Why isn’t she doing it” as VP? “She says she’s going to lower the cost of food and housing starting on Day One,” he said. “But Day One for Kamala was three-and-a-half years ago.” A few thoughts … — This is exactly why some Democrats warned Harris against getting too specific on policy. As we wrote last week, some in the party feared rolling out a traditional 100-day plan would give the GOP something concrete to target. For a hot second, at least, it appears Trump has found something to seize on. But can he keep it up? We should find out fairly fast, with a week of DNC counter-programming ahead: Trump heads tomorrow to York, Pennsylvania, where he’s expected to speak more on the economy. Then, he’s off to Howell, Michigan, on Tuesday to focus on crime. On Wednesday, he’s set to tackle national security in Asheboro, North Carolina, and border security on Friday in Glendale, Arizona. — Trump, of course, is facing sharp attacks himself on a policy plank that, much like price controls, makes economists cringe. Harris has dubbed his call for across-the-board tariffs of as much as 20 percent as a “Trump tax” on groceries and other consumer items. Trump, notably, swiped back yesterday: “A tariff is a tax on a foreign country, that’s the way it is, whether you like it or not. … It’s a tax on a country that’s ripping us off and stealing our jobs. And it’s a tax that doesn’t affect our country.” Businesses are eyeing those claims warily, as the WSJ notes today, offering this fact check: “Tariffs aren’t applied to foreign countries but rather to domestic businesses that import products. Economists say those businesses usually pass on the bulk of the cost to consumers by raising prices.” — The economy remains a weak spot for Harris, even amid her recent polling surge. This morning’s ABC/WaPo/Ipsos survey confirms Trump’s firm advantage on the issue, with the former president holding 9-point advantages when respondents were asked who they trust more to handle the economy and inflation, which remain the most important issues to Americans. But there’s also this fascinating nugget, per WaPo’s Dan Balz, Scott Clement and Emily Guskin: While 72 percent of Americans say the economy is “not so good” or “poor,” more than half aren’t blaming Harris for it: “more than 6 in 10 say she’s had limited influence on the administration’s economic policies,” with Democrats “more likely to say she has had more significant influence than are Republicans or independents.” How it played in Pennsylvania: “Trump, speakers say election centers on ‘strength versus weakness,’” by the Times Leader’s Bill O’Boyle Good Sunday morning. Thanks for reading Playbook. Drop us a line: Rachael Bade, Eugene Daniels, Ryan Lizza.
| | | | A message from Comcast: Did you know that most of the data on your smartphone travels over WiFi, not cellular? Thanks to WiFi innovation by Comcast, our customers connect over a billion devices to our network each year. Unlicensed spectrum is key to a fast and secure WiFi experience at home and on the go. Comcast leads the way by developing cutting-edge WiFi gateways that maximize our multi-gig broadband network and spectrum made available by the FCC. Learn more. | | | FROM 30,000 FEET — “Joe Biden’s Interrupted Presidency,” by the NYT Magazine’s Robert Draper: “It was as if the Joe Biden of the previous month — pugnacious, defensive, all but stricken blind by his own ambitions — had suddenly given way to an entirely different human being, one defined by selfless accommodation. But those two sides of the same man have always been present, and at times in conflict, throughout Biden’s 52 years in national political life, and the presidency brought out both sides of him: his best and, later, his worst.” FROM GROUND LEVEL — In Saginaw County, Michigan, WSJ’s Jeanne Whalen finds voters fed up with the cost of living and a manufacturing collapse, but unsure of how — or whether — to vote. And in Erie, Pennsylvania, WaPo’s David Lynch reports that inflation is just the latest in a long line of economic struggles that have left residents feeling unhappy and resentful of American elites. SUNDAY BEST … — Sen. JD VANCE (R-Ohio) on Harris, on “Fox News Sunday”: “The American people just don’t buy the idea that Kamala Harris, who has been vice president for three and a half years, is somehow going to tackle the inflation crisis in a way tomorrow that she hasn’t for the past 1,300 days. Giving Kamala Harris control over inflation policy … it’s like giving JEFFREY EPSTEIN control over human trafficking policy.” — Michigan Gov. GRETCHEN WHITMER on criticism of Harris’ plans as ineffective price controls, on NBC’s “Meet the Press”: “I think people are reading too much into what has been put out there. We know that Kamala Harris is going to be focused on building up more affordable housing. We know that Kamala Harris has already delivered on making sure that health care is more accessible and affordable … She’s got a plan on all those fronts to help more Americans be able to get a path to prosperity.” — Sen. CHRIS COONS (D-Del.) on the “communist” criticisms of Harris’ proposal, on “Fox News Sunday”: “I know Kamala Harris believes in the free market. What she put out in her proposals includes tax incentives for us to increase the production of housing and, yes, reductions in the prices that seniors pay for prescription drugs. I don’t think there’s anything communist about wanting to make housing more affordable and prescription drugs more affordable.” — Sen. TAMMY DUCKWORTH (D-Ill.) on Trump saying that the Presidential Medal of Freedom is “much better” than the Medal of Honor, on ABC’s “This Week”: “Donald Trump is despicable. He doesn’t deserve to be commander in chief. And certainly those remarks are consistent with where he’s always been. He thinks that we’re suckers and losers, and frankly, he’s not fit to be commander in chief.” TOP-EDS: A roundup of the week’s must-read opinion pieces.
| | | | A message from Comcast: Unlicensed spectrum is key to a fast and secure WiFi experience at home and on the go. Comcast leads the way by developing cutting-edge WiFi gateways that maximize our multi-gig broadband network and spectrum made available by the FCC. Learn more. | | | | | WHAT'S HAPPENING TODAY | | At the White House Biden will return to the White House from Camp David in the afternoon. On the trail Harris and Minnesota Gov. TIM WALZ will have a bus tour through Western Pennsylvania, speaking in Rochester in the afternoon, before traveling to Chicago in the evening. More from the AP
| | | | WELCOME TO THE CNN-POLITICO GRILL AT THE DNC! If you are in Chi-Town next week, join us at the CNN-POLITICO Grill just steps from the United Center for daily events and live programs. Featuring an all-star lineup of the most influential Democrats including Gov. JB Pritzker, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, the Honorable Pete Buttigieg, Gov. Josh Shapiro, Sen. Laphonza Butler, New York City Mayor Eric Adams and many more surprise guests. Don’t miss out on the buzziest conversations and newsworthy events hosted by POLITICO’s top reporters and editors. RSVP HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOK READS | | | | 
As she works to convince key groups of voters, VP Kamala Harris still has a significant challenge to win over rank-and-file union members. | Julia Nikhinson/AP Photo | 9 THINGS FOR YOUR RADAR 1. THE HARRIS CAMPAIGN: As the convention gets underway, Harris’ campaign announced that they’ll spend another $170 million on TV advertising and $200 million on digital advertising from Labor Day to the election, per Bloomberg. Outside groups are also stepping up: Black Men Vote PAC is putting $4 million into a turnout effort centered on Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin, Brakkton Booker scoops this morning. As she works to convince key groups of voters, Harris still has a significant challenge to win over rank-and-file union members, Holly Otterbein and Brittany Gibson report, despite backing from the institutions of organized labor. But her selection of Walz as running mate seems to be giving her a boost with some white working-class voters at the margins, where small movement could be the difference between winning and losing, Reuters’ Stephanie Kelly and Jarrett Renshaw find in Black River Falls, Wisconsin. 2. PROXY BATTLE: “McConnell says Congress has the power to vote by proxy,” by Kyle Cheney and Josh Gerstein: “In a brief filed Friday in federal court — authored by former Attorney General WILLIAM BARR — [Senate Minority Leader MITCH] McCONNELL says that despite his personal opposition to proxy voting, the House and Senate have total constitutional authority to determine the way they conduct business. … McConnell’s position puts him at odds with the vast majority of House Republicans, who spent years fighting a losing battle in court to overturn the practice, which was initiated in 2020 by then-Speaker NANCY PELOSI. … The matter is pending before the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.” 3. THE HARRIS RECORD: The deep dives into Harris’ record as VP and earlier continue to roll out, shining a spotlight on the parts of her political career that brought her here — and the ones that she’s had to run away from. Early in her tenure as VP, Harris was repeatedly held back by a too-cautious approach that left her open to political attacks, WSJ’s Rebecca Ballhaus, Tarini Parti, Emily Glazer and Annie Linskey report. But in time she became bolder, especially by picking select areas to focus on like abortion rights, as NYT’s Peter Baker and Zolan Kanno-Youngs detail. Her time as California AG is especially relevant for a number of key policy debates now. In the presidential campaign, Harris’ return to tough-on-crime messaging tracks with her prosecutorial days, as well as the broader boomerang to and from progressive criminal justice messaging that the Democratic Party has undergone in recent years, NYT’s Shaila Dewan reports. On immigration, too, she found success in her 2010 campaign by adopting a tougher stance that partnered with law enforcement to take on gangs — a lesson she’s putting into practice now, Blake Jones reports. But in a reminder of how idiosyncratic the path of history can be, NYT’s Shane Goldmacher notes that Harris just barely won that race — GOP opponent STEVE COOLEY initially declared victory on election night — in part thanks to Cooley’s gaffe about taking a pension. 4. MIDNIGHT TRAIN TO GEORGIA: “Trump’s ‘nuclear explosion’ on Kemp was months in the making. He could pay a price in November,” by Natalie Allison, Meridith McGraw and Brittany Gibson: Earlier this year, “[Gov. BRIAN] KEMP’s wife, MARTY, had told a local television reporter … that she planned to write in her husband’s name for president, rather than vote for Trump. Trump asked an aide on the plane to print off a copy of the news report. He called the Georgia first lady’s comments ‘terrible’ … [This month, his] eruption unnerved Trump’s Republican allies — and marked a potential turning point in his presidential campaign in a key state.”
| | | | A message from Comcast:   Unlicensed wireless spectrum is key to fast and secure WiFi. Learn more. | | | 5. GENERRA PECK IS BACK: “Strategist who ran DeSantis’ ill-fated bid is working with Musk to help organize voters for Trump,” by AP’s Thomas Beaumont: “Peck, who was demoted three months into [Florida Gov. RON] DeSANTIS’ candidacy, and [ELON] MUSK are now working together again, this time on a super political action committee, America PAC, dedicated to electing Donald Trump.” 6. IMMIGRATION FILES: With concerns about high levels of immigration near the top of voters’ priority lists, Republicans are increasingly leaning into rhetoric about immigrants that is misleading or outright false. There was Trump last night calling undocumented immigrants “savage monsters,” despite the fact that immigrants don’t commit crimes more than native-born Americans. WaPo’s Azi Paybarah, Clara Ence Morse, Jonathan Baran, James O’Toole and Irfan Uraizee analyze a huge trove of GOP ads from the first half of the year, which overall “convey an unrealistic portrait of the border as being overrun and inaccurately characterize immigrants generally as a threat.” And some of the lies are paying off: Across northern Ohio, NYT’s Jazmine Ulloa finds that a major swath of Republicans have fallen for the false conspiracy theory, pushed by Trump and Vance, that Democrats are trying to get undocumented immigrants into the U.S. to vote for them. On the flip side, a new Biden administration policy going into effect tomorrow has some undocumented spouses of U.S. citizens excited about getting to legalize their status, AP’s Gisela Salomon and Rebecca Santana report from Miami. 7. AT THE GAETZ: “First, Matt Gaetz took down Kevin McCarthy. Now he’s eyeing an even bigger win,” by Gary Fineout in Pensacola: “MATT GAETZ isn’t just counting on winning next week’s Republican primary. The four-term member of Congress and firebrand extraordinaire is counting on winning big — the kind of victory that would likely enrage his detractors and maintain the constant whispers about a run for statewide office. … [He] is thoroughly convinced that none of [his scandals] will derail him in his bid to keep his ruby-red northwest Florida seat — and many Florida Republicans agree with his assessment.” 8. BELLWETHER REPORT: It took Washington state a while to finish counting all its primary votes, but now that the results are in, Democrats might like what they see. The state’s unusual primary structure often provides a useful barometer for the battle for the House, and NPR’s Stephen Fowler reports that this year’s results could translate to a roughly 4-point Democratic edge in the national popular vote. That’s slightly better than in 2020, pointing to a close race that’s tilting slightly blue. 9. FAR-RIGHT DISPATCH: Activists and loud online voices on the fringe of the GOP still love Trump, but they’re increasingly sounding the alarm about his campaign and urging him to veer right on immigration and race, WaPo’s Drew Harwell reports. And “some of them have vowed to pummel the campaign online and at Trump rallies unless it changes course, presenting a challenge for campaign officials” who have tried to make his operation more professional this cycle. Meanwhile, The New Yorker’s David Kirkpatrick has an interesting look at far-left vigilantes who are going undercover to penetrate far-right groups.
| | | | DON’T MISS OUR AI & TECH SUMMIT: Join POLITICO’s AI & Tech Summit for exclusive interviews and conversations with senior tech leaders, lawmakers, officials and stakeholders about where the rising energy around global competition — and the sense of potential around AI and restoring American tech knowhow — is driving tech policy and investment. REGISTER HERE. | | | | | | | PLAYBOOKERS | | Tim Walz made a hyper-local burn of JD Vance in Nebraska. JB Pritzker wants to make a hyper-local burn in your throat. Willie Brown said he’s considering a lawsuit against Donald Trump. Steve Bannon’s post-jail debut will come with the New York Young Republicans Club. Doug Emhoff and Kamala Harris will mark their 10th anniversary. Ben and Felicia Horowitz’s leap to the right has shocked San Francisco. FIRST IN PLAYBOOK — Raben’s Democracy House will host a champagne brunch at theWit Hotel in Chicago tomorrow afternoon, supporting My Body PAC’s “My Body My Future” campaign. Patti LaBelle will be a special guest, along with Reps. Yvette Clarke (D-N.Y.) and Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.). TRANSITION — Bill Stepien has launched Stepien Strategic Partners, a boutique political and public affairs consulting firm. Stepien previously was campaign manager for Trump in 2020 and was a founding partner at National Public Affairs. WELCOME TO THE WORLD — Jennifer Schuch-Page, senior adviser and managing director for global bilateral climate action in the Office of the Special Presidential Envoy for Climate at the State Department, and Sam Christophersen, VP at Capital One, welcomed Jack Geoffrey Christophersen Schuch on July 30. He came in at 9 lbs, 3 oz and joins big brother Leo. HAPPY BIRTHDAY: Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) … Connie Hair … WSJ’s Sadie Gurman … WaPo’s Erik Wemple … Jason Furman … Scott Haber-Katris … Ben Wermund of the Houston Chronicle/San Antonio Express-News … Meera Kallupura … Bill Tomson … Megan Scully … former Reps. Toby Moffett (D-Conn.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) … Paris Dennard … H.R. Bert Peña … POLITICO’s Jesse Naranjo … Lee Hudson … CNN’s Simone Pathe … Bryan Greene of the National Association of Realtors … Robert Lynch … Bill McCormick … Jeffrey Hiday … Roger Zakheim … Elizabeth Letter … Luke Mitchem … Jordan Baugh … Mary Anne Bradfield … former Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, now of Warburg Pincus … Bob Woodruff … Jules Polonetsky … Laurie Doane of the Herald Group … Austan Goolsbee … National Park Service’s Mike Litterst … Gerry Wallace (84) … BGR Group’s Labriah Lee Holt … Amy Milbourne Did someone forward this email to you? Sign up here. Send Playbookers tips to playbook@politico.com or text us at 202-556-3307. Playbook couldn’t happen without our editor Mike DeBonis, deputy editor Zack Stanton and Playbook Daily Briefing producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Friday’s Playbook included an incorrect preview listing for “Fox News Sunday.” There is no legal panel.
| | | | A message from Comcast: How many WiFi devices are connected in your home?
With the explosion of connected devices, the average home using our Xfinity WiFi has 20+ connected devices. Some devices stream 4K video. Some need ultra-low latency for gaming. And some just need to send a reminder that the refrigerator door is open.
With over a billion devices connected to our network, we know how important WiFi is to our digital lives. Comcast continues to innovate to maximize our superior broadband network and the unlicensed spectrum that is critical to fast and seamless WiFi at home and on the go.
Comcast is introducing its newest gateway, the XB10, the first to incorporate the latest generation of our network with WiFi 7 and AI technologies. The XB10 will be capable of delivering multi-gig download and upload speeds over WiFi and simultaneously power 300 connected devices in the home.
Learn more. | | | | | | | Follow us on Twitter | | | | Subscribe to the POLITICO Playbook family Playbook | Playbook PM | California Playbook | Florida Playbook | Illinois Playbook | Massachusetts Playbook | New Jersey Playbook | New York Playbook | Ottawa Playbook | Brussels Playbook | London Playbook View all our political and policy newsletters | | Follow us | | | | |
